Ricky IV’s make it 3 wins in a row!

by Rushil Sharma

Saturday 26th May was a day set for exciting sport events all around the world including the Championship play off finals, the Champions league final and of course Rickmansworth IV v Hatfield & Crusaders IV.

Rickmansworth IV’s game was to played at home on the top pitch, where the outfield needed some clearing up before the start of the game. To counter the problem outfield, Rickmansworth sought to bring in the boundaries slightly to create consistent playing grounds that the team have enjoyed in the previous weeks.

Over to the toss and Captain Ken Brown had it in mind that the team should bat first but was wary that many of the team had to leave early, luckily he did not have to make that decision as Hatfield won the toss and chose to field.

Opening batsman Prasanth Subramanian and Rushil Sharma padded up and fought hard to see out the opening bowlers who did a fantastic job of keeping their line and length and bowling in tandem. (A. Monkar bowling fast left arm round 8 overs, 20 runs, 1 wicket & A. Dudman bowling Off-spin right arm over 8 overs, 26 runs, 2 wickets).

It was noticeable right away that the pitch would prove difficult to bat on with many of the balls staying low whilst the odd ball popped up to surprise the batsman, nevertheless, after the first bowling change the opening batsman decided to up the ante with Prasanth really taking the fight to the bowlers and quick fired to 25 before playing one shot too many and getting out to N. Vaghadia who bowled effectively (8 overs, 24 runs, 5 wickets), ending the opening partnership of 35, which would prove to the highest scoring partnership of the day.

35-0 soon became 35-2 as in form batsman Neil R (0) scooped up a wide ball to square leg, failing to register any runs. Rickmansworth now in trouble, needed to rebuild.

Hatfield saw an opening and decided to apply pressure but new boy Ketan Shah (11) had a few attempts to hit back but got bowled out in a critical moment just before drinks, where Rickmansworth stood at 56-3 after 20 overs.

56-3 to 60-4, as inform batsman Jaimin N Patel (0) was bowled and got a delivery that ball that would unsettle most.

Another two quick wickets and Rickmansworth had to rethink again.

BatsmanRonak B Patel (15) always in IPL mode hit an impressive two fours and the games only six which increased the teams scoring rate before getting bowled, leaving Rickmansworth 78-5.

It was now up to opener Rushil Sharma (25) and Ken Brown (7 N.O) to get the team to a defendable total. With a few extras and a few boundaries the partnership got to 27 and Rickmansworth now stood at 105-5 off 35 overs before Rushil played at a ball too early and got bowled after batting 35/40 overs.

In next and raring to go was Brendan Lindsay(15) who hit three fours followed by Tom Creedon (4) who hit the most impressive shot for four of the game. Captain Ken and Tony were left not out and Rickmansworth ended on a respectable 133-8 of 40 overs.

It was a surface which seemed to suit the bowlers well and Rickmansworth 4’s were glad to have Brendan Lindsay available to bowl to exploit the conditions.

Both him and Callum Watson Humphrey( John Watson-humphreys) applied the pressure well and Hatfield were struggling to register a run with exceptional bowling from young Callum who was unlucky not to get any wickets and finished on 7 overs, 17 runs, 0 wickets.

The first wicket however came from outstanding bowling from Brendan Lindsay who rattled the stumps to get Hatfield’s Number 1 batsman for 0.

Soon after came Hatfield’s loss of their second wicket bowled by Brendan, with the batsman playing a shot that wasn’t there to be hit and was caught by Ketan Shah. It continued to be the Brendan show who if he wasn’t bowling was still effective in the field producing a sensational run out of the other opening batsman.

Hatfield attempted to fight back and played a few shots before Brendan (8 overs, 12 runs, 3 wickets) got his third wicket but should have had his man a lot sooner as a ball bounced between two fielders.

Hatfield continued to fight, but it was now over to Ketan and Prasanth to steal the show. With Hatfields tails up, many in the field thinking about the champions league final and with Rickmansworth set to lose 3 players, Rickmansworth upped the pressure.

Ketan was the first bowling change and he found huge success by bowling a good line and length with the highlight of his wickets being a catch taken by Tom Creedon at short long on. Ketan continued to pick up the wickets and finished on an impressive 4 overs, 9 runs, 4 wickets, whilst Prasanth applied similar pressure and got Hatfield’s captain out finishing on 3.3 overs, 21 runs and 2 wickets.

It was a great team effort from the fours as they climbed the table and continued their season undefeated. The bonus being finishing the game at 5.30pm with a full 11, something which the team feared could haunt them as they were set to lose 3 players early.

Rickmansworth IV play Potten II next Saturday and will have to apply themselves better with the bat to continue their good fortune.